A Family to Give
by Strelitzia Noir
Summary: Family. It was something they both know the pain of losing, and now, it was something they were willing to give to a dear friend of theirs. [Justicykes. Spoilers for SoJ]


**DISCLAIMER: All characters and settings belong to CAPCOM.**

* * *

"You know what, I'm gonna be giving you the best hug you've ever had when you arrive here!"

"For once, I'd like that. Just remember to take it easy and not break my back or anything, okay Athena?"

"That reminds me, it's been a while since you've given me a piggyback ride."

"Please don't, we were fortunate enough to be on soft grass the last time, I might actually get hurt if it was on solid tiles!"

Athena and Apollo laughed, barely able to hold their phones still in their video call. It was the night before Athena was going to meet Apollo at the airport, for after 3 years in Khura'in, he was finally going to make good on his promise to come back home to America.

Apollo felt that after Khura'in had its defense attorneys back in full force and the legal system adjusted to discard every influence that Queen Ga'ran had on it, he was finally able to leave the Justice Law Office in the capable hands of his fellow attorneys. Of course, his girlfriend was the first to know, and she couldn't be any happier.

"By the way, Tiger, what were you saying about Armie again?" Apollo asked

"I was saying that since it's almost Christmas, there's no better time to go through with that plan of ours!" Athena said excitedly "I've actually brought it up with her a few times and she really seemed okay with the idea."

Apollo though, still seemed a bit uncertain "But those were just casual talks whenever you dropped by the orphanage, for all we know she might've thought you were joking. Who knows how she'd really feel when we finally go through with it for real."

Athena sighed, acknowledging his point "You're right, but what do we have to lose, Apollo?" she said, giving him a reassuring smile "The girl's grown really close to us these past three years and I can't think of anything more that we can really do for her right now."

Armie Buff, the daughter of the late archeologist Archie Buff, had been very close friends with the two ever since the case involving the death of Dr. Buff. The incident left Armie an orphan, but luckily, Apollo's old orphanage were very much willing to take the then-12 year old Armie, as well as help in the girl's physical therapy to help her fully regain the strength in both legs to walk by herself again.

Every now and then, Athena would visit Armie in the orphanage to see how she was doing, and they would sometimes call Apollo from there. Over time, the young blonde had formed a sisterly bond with Athena and a brotherly bond with Apollo, something she never had with anyone, being her parents' only daughter.

"I know it might be too much, but I still think adopting Armie is the best thing we can do for her right now." Athena began "It's been three years Apollo, Armie's already 15, she's not anymore at the age where most kids would be adopted." she paused for a moment, trying to study Apollo's reaction "She needs a family, Apollo, and that's something I think we'd be the best to give her right now."

Apollo was silent, still trying to wrap his mind around the idea of adopting Armie as their daughter. Listening to Athena, he could tell she was really determined to make it happen, and as he was trying to find a reason to be convinced, one word came to his mind that brought a smile to his lips "Family, huh? I'd like that, Tiger."

Athena's own smile grew wider as she heard Apollo finally agree to go through with their plan "Thank you, Apollo. You don't know how happy you made me with that." she said, her unusually serene tone reflected how she really felt, right before quickly switching back to her perky demeanor. "This is gonna be the best Christmas ever, I can feel it!"

Apollo couldn't help but laugh a little "Easy there, Tiger, we haven't even done anything yet." he may have sounded all calm and collected, but he couldn't help but admit, his girlfriend's excitement is unbelievably contagious. "Thing is, I feel there's definitely gonna be a lot more to this Christmas than that, Tiger."

"Will I be seeing you tomorrow then, love?" Athena asked, unable to hide her delight.

Apollo nodded, and then gave her a wide smile "Better get the red carpet ready for me tomorrow." he then laughed as he saw Athena roll her eyes at him "Will you pick me up alone, love?"

"Of course, the boss says he'll just see you when you get here, so it'll just be me tomorrow." she replied "Though if you ask me, he's just really giving us time together."

"Sounds like Mr. Wright." Apollo then held his pinky finger out, puzzling Athena a bit "I promise to arrive safe and sound to you tomorrow, Ms. Athena Cykes."

Athena couldn't help but roll her eyes once more "I swear, between us, I thought I was the childish one." she said, then holding her own pinky out "Then I promise to be here waiting for you once you do, Mr. Apollo Justice."

"For your eyes only, love." Apollo said. True enough, most people perceive Apollo as the more serious person between the two of them, though he would also be the first to admit that he was just putting up a front to look more appropriate as Athena's senior.

"You must be feeling tired, better get some sleep now, Apollo." said Athena, the time difference between Khura'in and America was 8 hours, and since it was morning over at the States, it would mean that Apollo was talking to Athena in the early hours of the morning.

Right on cue, Apollo started to yawn "You're right. I'll see you tomorrow, then, Tiger." he then held his free hand in a half heart, signaling Athena to complete the other half "Heart before I go?" he then flashes a childish grin.

"You're such a dork, have I ever told you that?" Athena couldn't help but let a groan out, but sheepishly smiled as she held her own half of the heart "But I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

The following day, Athena stood at the arrival gate of the airport, waiting for Apollo. Once she saw him walking out of the arrival exit, she quickly ran up to him and gave him a hug, surprising him and nearly taking him off balance.

"Whoa! Easy!" Apollo cried out as he tried to regain his footing after Athena charged at him with all her weight. Luckily, Athena herself was also helping keep their balance. "Where did you come from? I didn't even see you while I was walking out."

Athena put her hands on her hips and pouted "You were looking the other way, dummy." she then poked his rather prominent forehead.

"Ow, hey!" Apollo said as he rubbed the spot where Athena poked "I wouldn't have known you were there, I was expecting you to be waiting somewhere around where the gate exit was facing and not somewhere else."

"That's because I can't surprise you if you knew where I was." Athena teased, she then held out her pinky in front of him "Promise fulfilled?"

Apollo smiled and intertwined his own pinky with hers "Yes, promise fulfilled." he then took her hand and kissed it as he held it closer to him "Now, where to next, Tiger?"

Athena didn't want him to see her blushing from his sweet gesture, so she quickly grabbed his bag and pulled it along as she started walking out of the airport "To your house, of course, we gotta get these off before anything else."

"Aye, ma'am." Apollo replied as they headed out the airport exit gates.

Apollo was surprised when Athena started walking towards the parking area, he thought they were going to take a cab to his house so he was puzzled as to why Athena was leading him there. It wasn't until she stopped that he noticed where she was headed, Athena had brought a car along, a yellow Fiat 500.

"Wha- Since when did you have this!? Since when did you even learn how to drive?" Apollo asked, completely taken by surprise. Last he heard, Athena was still using his bike to get around town, so seeing her with a car was quite the shocker.

"Surprised?" Athena held out the keys to her car as she walked next to it, pressing a button on her controller to unlock the car's doors "I wanted to explore a little more so I had Simon help me find this baby. That, and I've had my license the year after you left." she then put his luggage on the back compartment just under the rear window before getting into the driver's seat.

"I hope for our sake you can drive properly." Apollo said as he got into the front seat. "Then again, if Prosecutor Blackquill helped you with this, then I guess it's supposed to be safe."

"Don't worry, I've never been able to take her above 100 miles, I already tried." Athena started the engine up and started backing away from her parking space "Besides, I don't think I'll be able to handle a screaming mess like you on the front seat."

"I don't think this thing's even quick enough to go close to a hundred miles, Athena." Apollo wasn't a big fan of cars but he couldn't imagine such a small car going too fast. "Fits your style, though, I'll admit."

"Wow, didn't expect to hear that from you." she replied as they drove out of the airport's parking area. A few minutes later, Athena noticed that Apollo hadn't said a word since they went on their way, but when she looked, she noticed that he was already fast asleep, his head leaning on the window. "My, and you say I fall asleep easily." she said, gently stroking her free hand along his sleeping face to not rouse him. "I guess I really have to drive carefully then."

* * *

The next day, Athena drove to Apollo's place to pick him up, and the two headed to the orphanage to finally go through with their intention to adopt Armie. On their way to the orphanage across town, they couldn't help but reflect on how they really felt coming into this.

"Hey Apollo..." Athena began, her eyes focused on the road ahead of them "Do you think we'll make great parents for Armie?" she asked, Widget had turned blue, which surprised Apollo.

"Why are you saying this now, of all times?" he asked "Wasn't it you who came up with the idea in the first place?"

Athena sighed "I guess you were right, Apollo, the feeling really is different when you're actually there." she said "You suddenly think about things you never even considered before...it's making me nervous."

Apollo reached a hand out, placing it on Athena's shoulder "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous as well, but don't forget, we're in this together." Athena's expression lightened a bit "We're the best team there is, I'm pretty sure we can do this."

"Let's do this!" Widget suddenly spoke, making both Athena and Apollo laugh, something they really needed to relieve the tension.

"At least Widget knows how to lighten the mood." said Apollo

Athena pouted "Hey! Widget won't be saying those things if I wasn't the one feeling it, you know?" she said

"Right, right, you weren't actually nervous a while back." Apollo sarcastically replied, prompting a glare from Athena.

Widget wasn't having it though, "Athena was very nervous." Apollo looked away to try and hide his laugh.

"Hey Widget! Zip it!"

* * *

The two arrived at the orphanage around 30 minutes later, and when they headed inside, the head caretaker saw them and quickly approached them.

"My, my, if it isn't Athena." she said. The head caretaker was a woman in her mid 50's, and she had always been the one who greeted Athena whenever she paid a visit. When she saw Apollo though, her mouth went agape "A-Apollo? Is that you?" she asked, walking up to him and looking him over.

"Umm...yeah, hi." Apollo scratched the back of his head, a bit flustered at the woman's reaction "Long time no see, Mrs. Wilson."

"You've grown so much, I don't even remember how long it's been since I last saw you." said Mrs. Wilson "You were just a little boy then."

"12 years, Mrs. Wilson." said Apollo, he then looked over to Athena, who simply smiled at him "I believe you know my girlfriend then?"

"Athena's told me stories, yes." Mrs. Wilson nodded in response "She's a brilliant gal, you should count yourself lucky to have her, Apollo." Athena then bumped her fist on Apollo's shoulder, something he only rolled his eyes at "I don't think I've ever told you this before, Athena, but Apollo was a bit of a troublemaker when he lived here."

"Give me a break, I was going through a phase back then." Apollo cried out as the two women just laughed.

"Anyway, moving on to why you two are here." began Mrs. Wilson "Should I take you to see her?"

"Before that, Mrs. Wilson." Apollo interrupted "Athena and I have actually something to talk to you about."

Mrs. Wilson smiled as if she knew what they were going to say "We'll talk about it in the office, then." she said as she led them to her office down the hall.

Once they were in the office, Mrs. Wilson brought out two sheets of paper and put in on her desk. "I have an idea of what this is about, the girl herself brought it up a few times recently, but I'd rather hear it coming from you, as well as the reason why."

Apollo and Athena smiled, to know that Armie had also considered the matter herself was more than reassuring, but now they still had to convince Mrs. Wilson to let them go through with it. Apollo decided to start off "We want to adopt Armie Buff as our daughter, Mrs. Wilson."

"I figured as much, but what brought you to choose to do this?" Mrs. Wilson's tone was serious "You've known the girl for a few years now, but adopting the girl isn't the same as just being her best friends, you know? I'm pretty sure that as lawyers, you're well aware of the obligations that will be placed on you once you go through with this."

"We're aware of it all." this time, it was Athena who spoke up "We've grown to love the girl during these few years, but now we've realized that there's one thing we wanted to give her over anything else."

"We want to give her another family, Mrs. Wilson." Apollo continued "We were there when her father, her only family then, was taken away from her. Athena and I both know that feeling, and we wanted to help her get over it as much as we can, which is why we've kept her really close to us all this time."

Mrs. Wilson had a faint smile as she then started to look over Armie's profile in their archive "Over the last 3 years, I've never seen someone grow so much as Ms. Buff did. She was finally able to walk again, as well as become sort of a big sister to the younger children around here." she began "But, she's also watched them leave as people come in to adopt those children, while no one comes in to adopt her. She never looked like she had longed for someone, but why did it take you until now to decide to do this?"

"At first, we never really thought about it, to be honest." said Athena "We just wanted to help her recover in some way, and because we were the only friends she had when she came in here, we thought to just visit her every now and then."

Apollo nodded in agreement "We never expected us to be this close to her, really. Now, she was the first person we could always think of."

"What would it be like if Armie was with us right now? Would she be happy if she was here? Do you think Armie will like this one? Those are just a few questions that we find ourselves asking." Athena added. "The only thing that was missing was actually having her with us to answer those questions."

Mrs. Wilson placed the two sheets of paper on her desk closer to the pair "Those are Armie Buff's adoption application papers, and as you can see, they have both your names on it."

The pair quickly looked over the papers and saw that, indeed, Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes are the names listed as the adoptive parents of one Armie Buff. This greatly surprised and confused the two. "We see it, but why?" Apollo asked.

"Armie was insistent that you would come one day to say you wanted to adopt her, so I had these papers made in advance for her." Mrs. Wilson replied "Honestly, I found it hard to believe at first, but when I think back to how happy Armie was whenever Athena dropped by, even more so in the times they would call you, I figured the possibility was already there from the beginning."

"Armie..." Athena couldn't help tearing up at what she just heard.

"So all this time, she wanted us to do this?" Apollo, too, was rendered speechless.

"It was a bit of a special case, too." Mrs. Wilson began "Armie was effectively choosing her foster parents even when they're not there yet, and there's the fact that you two aren't legally married. Normally, I would be skeptical of this, so would my fellow caretakers, but in this case, the opinion was unanimous. The only thing missing now are your signatures." she said as she placed a pair of pens in front of them. "So, how about we get this over with so you can see the girl?"

Apollo and Athena's smiles widened and they wasted no time in signing the papers and making their adoption of Armie official. Once they did, Mrs. Wilson led them out of the room and to where Armie was. They found her in the playground, sitting on one of the benches, holding a remote control in her hands as she used her chopper drone to play with the young children.

"Armie, can I have a moment?" Mrs. Wilson called out

Armie turned her head and quickly stood up from where she was sitting as soon as she saw Apollo and Athena with Mrs. Wilson, running up to them "Captain Justice!?Major Cykes!?" she called out to them, hugging them both as she ran up to them. Over the past three years, Armie had given the two of them field promotions as a sign of their growing friendship.

"Hey there, Sarge!" said Apollo "You're a lot taller than I remember!" now that she was 15, Armie was now just only a little shorter than Apollo.

"How you doing, Sarge?" said Athena, running her hand over the blonde's long hair.

"You're really here! You're back!" Armie said as she hugged both of them tighter.

Mrs. Wilson couldn't help but smile at the sight of the three, it was the first time that Armie had personally seen Apollo in three years, and she couldn't help but feel excited about Armie's reaction as to when she finds out that Apollo and Athena have finally adopted her as their daughter. "Okay, hate to break the reunion but I have something to tell you, Armie."

Armie reluctantly let go of the two and took a step back to look at the caretaker "What is it, Mrs. Wilson?"

"You see, I've been talking with these two here a while ago, and..." Mrs. Wilson paused, trying to observe the girl's reaction "They've finally decided to adopt you as their daughter." she finally said.

Armie's eyes widened and her mouth slowly opened, and as Apollo and Athena looked on nervously at how she'll react, Armie quickly ran back to the playground and hid behind the big slide. When Apollo and Athena went after her, they were stopped by the chopper drone firing its BB gatling gun at their feet.

"SO YOU WANT TO COME HERE AND SAY YOU'RE GOING TO ADOPT ME JUST LIKE THAT, HUH!?" the drone's speaker spoke out with its voice changer switched on "THIS IS ACTING OUTSIDE OF ORDERS, I'LL HAVE YOU TWO COURT MARTIALED FOR THIS!" the drone kept firing its gatling gun, never managing to hit anyone until it ran out of ammo. The next thing they heard was Armie sobbing, her voice changer turned off, the two decided to walk up to her behind the slide.

"I...I never thought...I never thought this would actually happen!" Armie said in between sobs, and when she saw the two walk up to her, she quickly jumped up and hugged them again, sending them all falling to the playground's sand. "You were actually telling the truth...you're gonna be my parents now!"

Mrs. Wilson followed the three, and she couldn't help tearing up herself "Whenever she brought it up, I remember Armie saying something along the lines of 'I don't mind if I don't get adopted, but if ever I do, I'd want Apollo and Athena to be the ones to do it.'"

"I've lost my mother when I was little, and then papa died in that incident." Armie began "But I never felt that I was alone, for you two were always there for me. In my eyes, you were my new family." she said, hugging the two tighter once more.

"And now we're here, we're a real family now." said Athena, who was now crying as she held Armie close to her. "Apollo, Armie, this is real, right?"

"It is real, Athena, this is really happening." Apollo then kissed both of their foreheads

The three got up from the sandy ground and laughed as they shook the sand off their clothes. Mrs. Wilson looked on with a warm smile "I've never thought I'd see things go full circle." she began, the three looking at her wondering what she was referring to "18 years ago, I was already a caretaker here when Apollo first came to this orphanage, having been brought here from Khura'in. I never thought I'd see the day where the boy I helped raise would adopt a child of his own here."

"Thank you for taking care of me all this time, Mrs. Wilson." said Armie as she ran up to hug the head caretaker "I don't think I'd be able to finish my therapy as well as I did if it weren't for you."

"I'm just happy you found your new family now, Armie." replied the elder woman. She then looked back towards the new parents "All that's left now is to legalize Armie's adoption, which means legally changing her surname to her adoptive parents'."

"Armie Justice, eh? Not too bad." said Athena, looking at Apollo to see what he thought of it.

"Yeah, the name sounds really good." Apollo replied, then looking at Armie to hear her thoughts.

The blonde nodded in response "I love it!" she said.

"Alright, that settles it." said Mrs. Wilson "Pack your bags after lunch, Apollo and Athena are going to take you home today." Armie nodded happily as she ran to her room, not wanting to waste any time packing her stuff. Mrs. Wilson couldn't help but chuckle at the blonde's excitement. She then turned to the new foster parents "Care to join us for lunch? I'm pretty sure some of the people here would be happy to see you after all this time, Apollo."

"We'd love to, Mrs. Wilson." Apollo replied.

* * *

"How does it look up there?" Athena asked, looking over the shoulder of her daughter.

"Just a moment, it should be good any second now." Armie replied. The young girl was piloting her chopper drone from the park, hoping to get a good view of the city lights through the camera attached to the drone. "Oh! Mom! Dad! Here it is!" she said as the monitor on her remote control started to show the camera's feed.

"Woah, that's amazing." said Apollo, who was standing beside Athena. The view of LA's night sky on Christmas day was breathtaking, as the city lights illuminate the horizon and the several Christmas events around town can be seen from the many people gathered ariund them. "Never knew the view from the sky looked so nice."

"Indeed it is, this is actually the first time I've seen it for myself." said Armie "I've never tinkered with my drone to make it reach that far before, I was always scared that it might get lose or someone might try to shoot me down."

Athena placed a hand on Armie's shoulder "Well, there's always a first for everything." she said "Even I've never seen it like that, just imagine how much nicer it would be to look at once we play the recording at home." the monitor was showing clear images, but because it had to fit on the compact remote control of the drone, there wasn't much to look at.

"I bet we're gonna be playing that back a few times over later." said Apollo, he then sat down beside Armie "By the way, there's something your mom would like to give you." he said, looking at Athena as she too, sat down on the other side of the bench.

Athena then slowly raised her hand towards Armie's left ear, gently putting a piece of jewelry on it. "Here you go, sweetie. Merry Christmas."

Armie put a hand up to her ear and touched the earring that Athena put on her, and her eyes widened as soon as she recognized the shape through her fingers. "Mom, isn't this-?" Armie looked up at Athena and noticed that, indeed, her mother was no longer wearing her yellow, moon-shaped earring.

Athena nodded as she poked the moon-rock earring she put in Armie's ear. "I don't think I've ever told you this before, but this earring actually came from my mom." she said "My mother made it for me when I was little. It's one of the few things she's left behind for me when she passed away."

"But why are you giving me this if it means so much to you?" Armie wasn't sure what to feel as she was both overwhelmed and confused.

"I wasn't really sure what to give you for Christmas, but I really wanted it to be something special, so I thought of this." Athena replied "Besides, this is what mothers do, right? And I think it looks beautiful on our girl, wouldn't you agree, love?"

Apollo nodded "Yes, it looks really beautiful on you dear, probably much more than it did on your mother." he then looked up and saw Athena glaring at him, which made Armie laugh.

"Are you saying the earring looked bad on me, huh, Apollo Justice?" Athena angrily said as she moved closer towards him "How could you!?" she cried out as she pinched his cheek.

"OW! OW! I was just joking!" Apollo cried out as Athena pinched on him hard.

Armie meanwhile, took the chance to use her chopper drone to snag something she saw on the park. She carefully navigated it back to where they were, letting it hover just above them. The noise from the chopper's rotor were enough to catch Athena and Apollo's attention, and when they looked up, they saw that the chopper's crane arms were holding up a mistletoe above them. They then looked back at Armie, who only playfully winked at them.

Apollo and Athena looked at each other for a few moments, and without saying a word, they both nodded in agreement and went to sit down beside Armie. The two then kissed Armie on both cheeks, causing her to blush. After a few more moments, Armie's smile grew wide and decided to pull her parents into yet another hug.

"I love you two so much!" Armie said as she hugged the two tight.

"We love you too, sweetie." said Apollo "Merry Christmas."

Athena looked at Apollo and smiled "Merry Christmas."

"This family right here, this is all I wanted for Christmas. I can't ask for anything more than this!" said Armie "Thank you so much."

* * *

After spending the rest of the night entertaining a few kids with Armie's drone, the three decided to head back to their house and call it a night. While they were walking back to where Athena's car was parked, Armie realized something. "Hey dad, what are you going to give mom for Christmas?" she asked.

"Yeah, I was actually wondering the same thing." Athena added "Care to fill me in on a little hint?"

"A hint, eh?" Apollo thought for a moment before he replied "Okay, whatever this is, it's something I've been planning to give you for a while."

Athena pouted, she never did like getting hung up on vague details "You're such a tease."

"What good is a present if I tell you before giving it?" Apollo replied, prompting Armie to laugh at their exchange.

As they went on their way, Apollo looked at the two women walking beside him. Up until a few days ago, Armie Buff was only a close friend of theirs, and now she was Armie Justice, the child that he had adopted with Athena. They were just friends a few days ago, and now they were a family. There was only one thing left, though, and as Apollo reached inside his coat pocket, feeling the little black box he had kept inside, he felt he had the answer.

"Athena..." he began "Can I have a moment? I want to tell you something..."

 _\- END -_


End file.
